BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Early Recruiting

Yes. The verbal agreement will include x percent scholarship. Of course at Ivies it's different. At Ivies there are no athletic scholarships and technically you are committing to the "Admissions Process" at an Ivy. Also, you could have a verbal commitment w a coach with no athletic money. They are offering u a spot, but no dollars.

Agree with this. At the time the coach offers a spot, they will give the scholarship dollars if they are offering dollars (if so typically 20-50% of all in cost) and the ACT/SAT minimum requirements, GPA requirement, and at the at the more academically challenging institutions, policy towards AP/Honors expectations.

Not a fan of Xanders at all, but to be fair these teams losing to some of these lesser known teams is more of sign of parity and the growth of the sport than it is an indictment of early recruiting. More kids are playing the sport than ever and there are plenty of talented athletes out there for the taking by these programs. On the other side of it, Denver and Notre Dame are two of the most notorious early recruiters as well as late poachers and its a good bet that both of those teams will be around come final four weekend. Seems to me Virginia is in trouble and I think that has to do with coaching, Hopkins has a young team and Duke and UNC had a lot of turnover on their rosters. Early season losses are one thing, but lets see who is there in May, Im guessing it will be the usual suspects.

Parity is the popular word in college lacrosse these days. Early recruiting seems to be a factor.

From an IL article 3/11/16:

"Simultaneously the recruiting timetable has shifted. Virginia, Hopkins, Maryland and North Carolina are the most aggressive early recruiters. Their coaches evaluate eighth and ninth graders, and have been offering to freshmen and sophomores. The strategy is unproven. It's equal to investing in start-ups instead of Fortune 500 companies."

"You know a lot more about a kid who commits before his senior year than a kid who commits before his sophomore year," Flanagan said. "Coaches loaded up on sophomore commits and missed on the kids who were slower to develop."

You actually made the best argument possible against early recruiting. If this game has grown to nationally played, AND there is talent on all corners of the US, AND it is impossible to canvas the US to diligence all of them in a 6-12 month window starting when they are in 8th grade, AND are ignoring the basic undisputable fact that boys have a lot of volatility in their physical, social and academic growth in their early to mid teens YOU'D PLAINLY AND SIMPLY BE OUT OF YOUR MIND TO RECRUIT AND BE DONE WITH IT WITH MIDDLE SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL UNDERCLASSMEN.

If you are making the argument that lacrosse has recently arrived as a real national sport for youth and high school play, then next look at what other more established sports have come to. There are reasons why the more developed sports don't broadly recruit early. Sure there is the outlier example here and there of some 8th grade prodigy in football or basketball or soccer who gets attention of colleges and it makes the news. But not dozens or hundreds. Big time programs in established sports are not making their bets until during or after junior year.

It comes down to gambling. When do you want to bet? When you have no information or when you have the most information?

Ty Xanders is a carnival barker. I find it incredible there are tens of thousands of people on twitter who could care one bit about his act.

I do agree that early recruiting is a factor, but how big of an impact it is having remains to be seen. When is the last time a team outside the Top 10 made it to final four weekend? The National Championships have been dominated by the programs that early recruit, so until we see a program that doesnt recruit early crack the final four I dont think we can definitively say early recruiting is hurting these programs. I think more than hurting the programs, early recruiting is hurting the kids. These programs are stockpiling kids 15-20 a class with the hope that a few of them actually pan out. The rest are relegated to the bench or practice players. Its up to the parents to make sure their kid is going to a program where he has the best chance to be successful, not one mommy and daddy can brag about at parties.

GREAT ACCURATE INFO ABOVE

Per Ty Xanders

The first 2020 boy will be announcing his commitment on social media this afternoon. Yes, an eighth grader. Let the floodgates open...

crush kid

how old is he?

Disgrace that these schools are doing this to the sport.

unless its your kid right?

Penn St? The #20 ranked team in lax and a state school? Would have thought him being the 1st ever 8th grade commit, he would have went top 5 school lax/academic school.

What are the parents thinking ?

THe kid is good, had to get a full ride in order to verbal to Penn State...Good education, yes...shot at a title in his 4 years, nil.

he is committing to a HS and College on the same tweet

Called ego not a bad thing nor a good thing..just worried there would be no more spots open. It was filling up fast

I'm just disappointed he's going to St. Anthony's...

That is it, if your son is a 2020 and he is not actively talking to a D1 coach he can assume he will not be playing D1 in college. LOL, I am being sarcastic, however, my bet is there are plenty of people out there that really believe that! my kid is a decent player and I can guarantee, he won't be doing anything before 11th grade at the earliest. And no, I don't think it will hurt his chances of playing in college. I actually wholeheartedly believe it will help him. I do wish the young man that committed all the luck in the world and if he and his family feel that it is the right thing to do for him, more power to them!

Any idea what year he is born?

Do you really think this boy said to his parents "I think it's time I commit to a college" . You know where this is coming from. I guess his travel program thought it was a good idea also. He now can skip playing travel save his money and play for the school only. I told my son today and he laughed. Just hard for me to figure this out so I might as well laugh also.. I guess this college coach will be there the next 9
Years. Lol . He must have guaranteed that to the parents. That would sell me. Thanks for the Friday night laughter that lacrosse has become.

The pressure and scrutiny of every bad pass or dropped ball will be unbelievable. I would have advised him to wait a year and the opportunity would have still been there. What position does he play?

If he's that good , which he is ,assuming it's him , why settle for PSU this early ??

So every team in the country will completely turn over twice between now and his college senior year and you're convinced that PSU has no chance of winning the championship? How can you be so sure?

As a Parent with 3 Kids that all played college lacrosse, I would say this is disgusting. Parents should be ashamed of themselves. This is NOT GODD, Let him be a kid. Wait, If he's that good it will not matter. As far as PS Coaches go SHAME ON THEM. This Great sport is in a really bad place.

LOL, who cares about winning a championship?

The pressure, the scrutiny, not letting him be a kid....whatever. See, it could be just the opposite. Maybe he will be more relaxed knowing that he doesn't have to worry about the mistakes and can play with abandoned and get even better. Oh, and now he doesn't have to attend Philly Freshman Showcase, Jake Reed, Maverick Showcase and so on and maybe spend his summers and fall being more of a kid than his friends who still need to hit the recruiting circuit. And mom and dad can probably save a ton of money.

Congrats to the boy, the family, PSU and to those of you who want to crap in early recruiting. Win win for everyone.

I completely agree that early recruiting is destroying the game. I despise the whole club scene, and wish we could go back to a time when official visits counted, when players decided what school to attend in their senior year.

That said, wouldn't you probably make the same decision if put in their place? Free school for four years, to a college that's very well regarded on the East Coast. And [lacrosse], if he turns out to be a real student, he can always renege and commit to an Ivy.

What's the downside for the player/parents?

The pattern on early recruiting seems to be that attack especially seem to get recruited first. The irony is that over time it is beginning to show that the late recruiting programs like Yale and Harvard are getting the best defensemen that are shutting down these early prodigy offensive recruits. Look no further than Yale shutting down Maryland's offense and Harvard with Jahelka and Duvnyak shutting down Duke's offense. Defense is where these programs should be recruiting early.

Or: both offensive and defensive players should be recruiting post-puberty, lol.

Should be shame in University and coach..he and others are using kids as pawns for job security so they can tell the school presidents look I have great kids coming in down the road you can't get rid of me. Banking on 14 year olds maybe 15 is scary

Jelousy is alive and well, only in this sport never seen anything like it. I love it when these parents go into an explanation of why early recruiting is bad but will spend thousands of dollars on showcases and club lacrosse . The only parents who think it's bad are the ones whose kids will NEVER be recruited. Don't criticize worry about your own.

Im sure there are plenty of people whose kids have already been recruited that are critical of early recruiting as well as people that have played, coached, or covered the sport. I think the prevailing opinion is that recruiting 8th graders is wrong, its not about the kid its the process thats broken.

Actually you are completely wrong, my kid committed early and was good choice for him but honestly was too early. Say what you want but these early commits are doing so out of fear and nothing else. The fear comes from a couple reasons, 1) there is a fear that all the spots on a school they may want to attend will fill up fast as a result of early recruiting,2) you need to commit while your kid is at the top of their game relative to others in the age group as who knows where they will be in a few years and or maybe if the coach sees my kid play a lot more they may think he is not as good .When a top school makes you a top offer there is no way to go but down in terms of offers.
In terms of reneging on a commitment that was not really a thought for us as when you make a commitment you are giving your word and that should mean something. Always shocks me that coaches are willing to poach players as it just shows you the character of a kid and his parents when they are so willing to jump programs. (i do get it when situations change as in coach changes etc.)

I agree with the jealous alive and well comment. why would any of you care if some kid gets recruited early? you would not even be on this board if you didn't have a kid playing, so please -look in the mirror before you look out the window.

as far as PSU, it is a great school with a vast alumni network and a top 40 academic school nationally. If that is not good enough for your kid, don't apply there.

I thought it's the kid and parent showing interest in the school first . Does the school contact them first???????isnt that illegal???? . The college coaches tell the kids to come down and checkout the school in 8 th grade???? Seems wrong on every level. My guess is that Penn State will be investigated again for some wrongful acts or maybe the 8th grader did some illegal act started by the parents or school . This is only going to open up Pandora's box ..Way to ruin it for the good clean kids and families

For those who commit early, just make sure that the school is a great fit for your son. There is no guarantee that your son will see the field. The players currently on the team were probably recruited , as well as the players that will be after you. Your son may be good enough to be recruited but playing in a game is a different story. How long is the current coaches contract for? He may be gone when your son arrives.
Again, school is for education 1st, then lacrosse. After 4 years of school/lacrosse, it will be time to find a job.
On a side note, 6 out of the 48 players on the current Maryland roster are from Long Island! How many thousands of boys play lacrosse on LI? Just saying!

Article said he is age appropriate.

Heard he was reclassed.

Anyone know truth. Great for the kid and family just wondering.

To each his own. My concern if it were my son would be if he'd be burnt and fried from the pressure of a grinding 5 years playing against bigger stronger faster 17 and 18 year olds, not to mention the physical toll - would he be grund up and limping onto the campus his freshman year or would he be better for the 5 seasons of of playing kids 3 and 4 years older, not to mention the the physchological grind of staying focused for 5 years and staying hungry. Time will tell if these young kids can handle all that and be the player the colleges expect. That's a lot on a young kid.

Immediately he will be expected to be better than anybody his grade and on par with any upperclassman. The big question will be how he'll handle long stretches of adversity when the points are difficult to come by while the expectations are only going tto be increasingly unrealistic. He'll either crush the skeptics or the pressure will crush him. I hope it's the former.